Nuclear Power Corporation of India has progressed with its plans of setting up a mega nuclear power plant in Maharashtra, with the Union government giving its clearance for land acquisition.

The proposed plant, coming up at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district, will have capacity of 6,000 MWe in three-four phases. At current prices, the project would cost around Rs.13,000 crore.

The detailed project report is currently under preparation after which the configuration of the nuclear plant will be finalized.

The Jaitapur atomic plant will run on light water reactors, unlike most of NPCIL's plants that operate on heavy pressurised water reactors. The Maharashtra government is expected to make available 1,250 ha of land for the project in Ratnagiri district. NPCIL and the state government are deliberating on the various issues like land acquisition, water supply and environmental clearance.

It is likely that India would turn to USA to source enriched uranium -- the key raw material for the project. It may be mentioned that USA very  recently lifted the 30-year old sanction on selling nuclear material to India.

The Jaitapur plant will the the second atomic power project in Maharashtra, the first being the Tarapur atomic power plant, set up in 1969, that has two units of 160 MWe, each. One additional unit of 540 MWe was recently commissioned at the Tarapur plant. This unit is incidentally India's largest operating power unit of any type (thermal, hydel or nuclear) at present.  Another unit of 540 MWe is being developed at the Tarapur plant taking the plant's total capacity to 1,400 MWe.

Also See:

Tarapur atomic power plant goes commercial (14-Sep-05)